Zooming into Focus: A VCU-RRTC-IDD Podcast

Brandon Jenkins stops by to discuss their experiences in employment as well as quality of life since being employed. Brandon is a member of the Study 2 Advisory Committee, assisting project team members in creating meaningful products and providing insight into quality of life factors for individuals with IDD in employment.

Dr. Lecorn-Huckaby and Dr. Temple join us to continue the discussion from Episode 9 about Research Study 3's Tech Prep intervention, as they also recently launched the first cohort of the online Tech-Prep course for students with IDD in Virginia.

Dr. Josh Taylor and Dr. Holly Whittenburg join us from Washington State University. They are working on Research Study 3’s Tech Prep intervention and they, along with their colleagues, recently launched the first cohort of the online Tech-Prep course for students with IDD.

In a special early released    episode of Zooming into Focus, Whitney and Crystal have a conversation about training and technical assistance and how the general public can utilize the resources that are produced by the project team. They also discuss what Technical Assistance is and how people can gain information from the team about anything IDD and disability employment related.

Troy Carter, a research and communications assistant on the project, tells us about his journey to his current career and the ups and downs along the way. He also gives us his views on the five studies of the project and his experiences with each topic.

We are joined by Dr. Carol Schall, the principal investigator of Research Study Five. She breaks down the research that she and her team are conducting to increase the quality of supported employment services provided to people with IDD by establishing a valid and reliable scale for implementation.

We sit down with Jaclyn Camden, the principal investigator of Research Study Four, and discuss the research of her and her team as they create a technical assistance and training model for college professionals to improve employment opportunities for college students with IDD. 

On episode four, we catch up with the principal investigator of Research Study Three, Dr. Timothy Tansey, about his team's study: Inspiring and Preparing Disempowered Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Pursue Technology Training and Careers: Scaling up the TECH-Prep Intervention.

On this episode, we talk with the principal investigator of Research Study Two, Alissa Brooke, about her team's study: The Impact of CIE on the Lives of People with IDD: A Mixed-Methods Intervention Development Study Across Multiple Businesses.

On this episode, we talk with the principal investigator of Research Study One, Dr. Ben Schwartzman, about his team's study, as he and his team are developing a combined parent and peer mentorship program to help adults with IDD connect to employment.

On this episode, we talk with Project Director Jenn McDonough about what the RRTC on IDD project is, how it started, and where it's going from here. Jenn gives us an overview of the funding and of the five research studies that comprise the project.